04/28/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - Investors unhappy with imitation of reforms in Ukraine

A donor conference opened in Kiev

04/28/2015 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine News Agency

Topics from the Media and Social Networks

• Investors unhappy with imitation of reforms in Ukraine.
• Seizure of assets of factory "Roshen" in Russia.
• A forest fire in the Chernobyl disaster zone.
• Ukrainian authorities attempts to disarm fighters of the "Right Sector".
• Problems of the Russian spacecraft “Progress”.
• Kharkiv Mayor Kernes ran away from the court for holidays in Italy.
• An accident with a Hyundai train.
• "Kyivenergo" has cut off 2.5 thousand homes from the hot water supply.

Key Events in Ukraine

• A donor conference opened in Kiev. A significant scale financial assistance to Ukraine was announced. The government hopes to attract at least $3 billion investments by the end of the year. European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Khan said that by investing in Ukraine, Europe is investing in its own future. However, investors believe that the only way to realize the country’s potential is to implement rapid fundamental reforms in all spheres of economy and politics, including decentralization of financial flows and energy efficiency. The conference was addressed by the President and Prime Minister of Ukraine.
• The Department of Energy has asked the Antimonopoly Committee to investigate non-competitive activities of the company DTEK, owned by oligarch Akhmetov.
• A fierce forest fire appeared in the zone of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Dozens of vehicles are involved in fighting the fire. Emergency Service suspects that the fire started as a result of arson.
• The fifth wave of a partial mobilization to Armed Forces launched. The Ministry of Defence declares it is needed to rotate troops who served in 2014.
• NBU has corrected the hryvnia fall from the previous days: 22.26 UAH/USD (-0.64 UAH), 24.33 UAH/EUR (-0,45 UAH), 4.26 UAH/ RUB 10 (-0.19 UAH) .

Kyiv Life

• Capital’s authorities are saying that the total debt of Kiev has reached nearly 18 billion UAH (about $ 820 million). However, it is still serviceable thanks to the debt restructuring. Revenue growth in local currency in the first quarter of 2015 increased by 20% compared with the previous year.

Ukraine at War

• The situation in the combat zone in the Donbass region continues to deteriorate. The militants massively used heavy artillery and MLRS against the Ukrainian army along the whole demarcation line. At least one Ukrainian soldier was killed and seven injured. Also, there are reported victims among the civilian population.
• There are about 2 thousand wounded soldiers in the hospitals of the Ministry of Defense, and more than 400 are undergoing rehabilitation in sanatoriums.
• In the Odessa region, there was another attack on the railway in the vicinity of Ilyichevsk.

Ukraine and the World

• US President Obama included Russian aggression in Ukraine to the list of global threats, along with the fight against terrorist "Islamic state" and protection from the epidemic of Ebola.
• German Foreign Minister Steinmeier said that the process of implementation of the Minsk Agreement has stalled in recent days, and the situation in the Donbass considerably deteriorated.
• British Ambassador to Ukraine said that Ukraine would have a humanitarian crisis without Russia's aggression.
• Ukrainian pilot Savchenko, illegally detained by the Russian authorities, was transferred from prison to a hospital due to a sharp deterioration in health.

The Trends

• Attempt to disarm the "Right Sector" fighters would lead to a serious destabilization of the internal situation. Support for the president and the government in society is too low to carry out such actions against the volunteers, which are supported by the general public.
• International investors show a clear cooling towards the policy of official Kyiv. They are willing to make financial investments in the Ukrainian economy, but in response they’d like to see real reforms, significant results in the fight against corruption and a clear understanding by the country's leadership of the prospects of resolving the conflict in the Donbass.